Laundry additive product

Abstract

Additive products are provided for use in the washing of textiles comprising a mixture of an organic peroxy bleach precursor, a cationic surfactant and an alkoxylated nonionic surfactant of HLB 8-17 in water releasable combination with a non-particulate substrate, the additive products being adapted for addition to conventional inorganic persalt-containing detergent liquors to enhance the removal of bleachable and greasy stains.

We claim: 
     
       1. A laundry additive product adapted for the removal of stains and consisting essentially of (a) a substrate comprising a non-particulate solid article in the form of a sheet, block, ring, ball, rod or tube, said article possessing sufficient structural integrity under wash conditions to be recovered substantially intact at the end of the laundry cycle, in water releasable combination with,   (b) an organic peroxy compound precursor selected from the group consisting of imides, acyl hydrazides, acylated oximes, anhydrides, and esters wherein the weight ratio of the precursor to the substrate lies in the range from 30:1 to 1:10, and   (c) a surfactant system comprising an alkoxylated nonionic surfactant having an HLB in the range 8.0-17.0 and a cationic surfactant having the empirical formula: R m   1  R x   2  Y L  Z      wherein R 1  is a hydrophobic organic group containing alkyl chains optionally including aryl groups and which may also contain ether linkages, ester linkages, or amide linkages, and containing a total of from 8 to 20 carbon atoms, m is a number from one to three, and no more than one R 1  can have more than 16 carbon atoms when m is 2 or more than 12 carbon atoms when m is 3, R 2  is a substituted or unsubstituted alkyl group containing from one to four carbon atoms or a benzyl group, provided that not more than one such benzyl group is directly attached to each Y group, x is a number from zero to three, the remainder of any carbon atom positions being filled by hydrogens, Y is selected from the group consisting of ##STR16##  L is a number from 1 to 4, Z is a water-soluble anion in a number to give electrical neutrality, the cationic surfactant being water dispersible in admixture with the nonionic surfactant, the weight ratio of the nonionic surfactant to the cationic surfactant being in the range 20:1 to 1:2, the weight ratio of the surfactant system to the substrate being in the range 20:1 to 1:5.   
     
     
       2. A laundry additive product according to claim 1 wherein the alkoxylated nonionic surfactant is a C 10  -C 18  linear or branched chain alcohol ethoxylate. 
     
     
       3. A laundry additive product according to claim 2 wherein the nonionic surfactant is a primary C 10  -C 15  substantially linear alcohol ethoxylate containing from seven to fifteen ethylene oxide groups per alcohol group. 
     
     
       4. A laundry additive product according to claim 3 wherein the weight ratio of nonionic surfactant to cationic surfactant is within the range 10:1 to 1:1. 
     
     
       5. A laundry additive product according to claim 4 wherein the weight ratio of nonionic surfactant to cationic surfactant is within the range 5:1 to 3:2. 
     
     
       6. A laundry additive product according to claim 4 wherein the weight ratio of the surfactant system to the substrate is within the range 10:1 to 1:2. 
     
     
       7. A laundry additive product according to claim 6 wherein the weight ratio of the surfactant system to the substrate is within the range of 8:1 to 1:1. 
     
     
       8. A laundry additive product according to claim 7 wherein the weight ratio of the precursor to the substrate lies in the range 8:1 to 1:4. 
     
     
       9. A laundry additive product according to claim 8 wherein the weight ratio of the precursor to the substrate lies in the range 5:1 to 1:2. 
     
     
       10. A laundry additive product adapted for the removal of stains and consisting essentially of (a) a substrate comprising a non-particulate solid article in the form of a sheet, block, ring, ball, rod or tube, said article possessing sufficient structural integrity under wash conditions to be recovered substantially intact at the end of the laundry cycle, in water releasable combination with,   (b) an organic peroxy compound precursor selected from the group consisting of imides, acyl hydrazides, acylated oximes, anhydrides, and esters wherein the weight ratio of the precursor to the substrate lies in the range 8:1 to 1:4 and   (c) a surfactant system comprising an alkoxylated nonionic surfactant having an HLB in the range 8.0-17.0 and a cationic surfactant having the emperical formula: R m   1  R 2   x  Y L  Z      wherein R 1  is a hydrophobic organic group containing alkyl chains optionally including aryl groups and which may also contain other linkages, ester linkages, or amide linkages, and containing a total of from 8 to 20 carbon atoms, m is a number from one to three, and no more than one R 1  can have more than 16 carbon atoms when m is 2 or more than 12 carbon atoms when m is 3, R 2  is a substituted or unsubstituted alkyl group containing from one to four carbon atoms or a benzyl group, provided that not more than one such benzyl group is directly attached to each Y group, X is a number from zero to three, the remainder of any carbon atom positions being filled by hydrogens, Y is selected from the group consisting of ##STR17##  L is a number from 1 to 4, Z is a water-soluble anion in a number to give electrical neutrality, the cationic surfactant being water dispersible in admixture with the nonionic surfactant, the weight ratio of the nonionic surfactant to the cationic surfactant being in the range 20:1 to 1:2, the weight ratio of the surfactant system to the substrate being in the range 20:1 to 1:5.   
     
     
       11. A laundry additive product according to claim 10 wherein the cationic surfactant is such that it has the structure (1), L is 1, R 1  is selected from C 10  -C 20  alkyl and C 10  -C 15  alkylbenzyl, m is 1 or 2, R 2  is selected from --CH 2  C 6  H 5 , --CH 3 , --CH 2  CH 2  OH and --CH 2  CHOHCH 3 , x is 2 or 3 and Z is a halide, methosulphate, sulphate or carboxylate. 
     
     
       12. A laundry additive product according to claim 11 further comprising detergent components selected from the group consisting of surfactants other than those specified in (c) of claim 1, suds modifiers, chelating agents, softeners, anti-static agents, anti-redeposition and soil suspending agents, optical brighteners, perfumes, enzymes and mixtures of the foregoing, the weight ratio of the precursor to the detergent components being in the range from 500:1 to 10:1. 
     
     
       13. A laundry additive product according to claim 11 wherein the weight ratio of nonionic surfactant to cationic surfactant is within the range 10:1 to 1:1. 
     
     
       14. A laundry additive product according to claim 13 wherein the weight ratio of nonionic surfactant to cationic is within the range 5:1 to 3:2. 
     
     
       15. A laundry additive product according to claim 12 wherein the amount of the detergent component or components is such that the total component:substrate weight ratio is less than 10:1. 
     
     
       16. A laundry additive product according to claim 15 wherein the chelating agent is selected from the group consisting of ethylene diamine tetramethylene phosphonic acid, nitrilo trimethylene phosphonic acid, diethylene triamino pentamethylene phosphonic acid and alkali metal or ammonium salts thereof. 
     
     
       17. A laundry additive product according to claim 15 incorporating as an adjuvant, a suds modifier selected from C 20  -C 24  fatty acids, copolymers of ethylene oxide with a hydrophobic group formed by condensing propylene oxide with propylene glycol, polydialkyl siloxanes and mixtures thereof with silica, microcrystalline waxes, triazine derivatives and mixtures of any of the foregoing. 
     
     
       18. A laundry additive product according to claim 17 including as adjuvant C 16  -C 18  fatty acid. 
     
     
       19. A laundry additive product according to claim 18 wherein the weight ratio of the nonionic-cationic surfactant mixture to the C 16  -C 18  fatty acid is in the range 1:5 to 4:1. 
     
     
       20. A laundry additive product according to claim 19 wherein the weight ratio of the nonionic-cationic surfactant mixture to the C 16  -C 18  fatty acid is in the range 1:3 to 3:2. 
     
     
       21. A laundry additive product adapted for the removal of stains and consisting essentially of (a) a substrate in flexible sheet form in water releasable combination with   (b) an organic peroxy compound precursor selected from tetraacyl C 2  -C 6  alkylene diamines wherein the weight ratio of the precursor to the substrate lies in the range from 5:1 to 1:2 and   (c) a surfactant system comprising a nonionic surfactant selected from primary C 10  -C 15  substantially linear ethoxylates containing from about seven to about 15 ethylene oxide groups per alcohol group and a cationic surfactant of formula R 1  (R 2 ) 3  N +  Z      wherein R 1  is selected from C 10  -C 20  alkyl and C 10  -C 15  alkyl benzyl, R 2  is selected from --CH 2  C 6  H 5 , --CH 3 , --CH 2  CH 2  OH, and --CH 2  CHOHCH 3 , provided that not more than one R 2  group is --CH 2  C 6  H 5  and Z is selected from halide, methosulphate, sulphate and carboxylate, the cationic surfactant being water dispersible in admixture with the nonionic surfactant, the weight ratio of the nonionic surfactant to the cationic surfactant being in the range 5:1 to 3:2 and the weight ratio of the surfactant system to the substrate being in the range 8:1 to 1:1.   
     
     
       22. A laundry additive product according to claim 21 further comprising an organic adjuvant selected from organic chelating agents, suds modifiers, anti redeposition agents and optical brighteners, and mixtures of the foregoing, the amount of such adjuvants being such that the total adjuvant:substrate weight ratio is less than 10:1.